Sherry Labs snapped up by Netherlands corporation

Sherry Laboratories, a central Indiana materials-testing business with nearly 300 employees, has been acquired by Netherlands-based Element Materials Technology BV, the companies announced Monday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Daleville-based Sherry, founded in 1947, was owned by Muncie-based Ontario Corp. from 1969 to 2006 before being sold to a private group led by several high-powered central Indiana businessmen, including Christopher LaMothe, CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce from 1992 to 2002.

Joining him on the purchase were former Ball Corp. CEO John W. Fisher, who died in 2009, and Van Smith, the then-CEO of Ontario Corp.

LaMothe is still CEO and chairman of the company. Smith, who served as Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s campaign chairman during the 2012 election, is an executive with the firm.

Sherry executives did not return a phone call seeking comment on the sale Monday morning.

Headquartered about 50 miles northeast of Indianapolis, Sherry conducts environmental, food, microbiological, and petrochemical testing services at 10 different facilities, including five in Indiana, three in Louisiana and one each in Ohio and Oklahoma.

The company has more than 6,000 clients in the aerospace, defense, energy and transportation industries.

Element, which operates more than 15 testing facilities throughout the United States, said the acquisition of Sherry makes it the nation’s largest dedicated materials-testing company.

Element officials did not return a phone call to discuss plans for Sherry.

Last August, Element said it had secured $93.2 million in new financing for an acquisition spree. It recently acquired lab businesses in Cincinnati and near Detroit.